TPMMuckraker
Dennis Hastert

William Jefferson Convicted On 11 Counts

Zachary Roth | August 5, 2009, 6:18PM

Former Rep. William Jefferson -- the Louisiana Democrat in whose freezer the FBI found $90,000 during a 2005 raid -- has been found guilty on 11 out of 16 federal charges.

The charges against the former lawmaker concerned a web of schemes in which he used political contacts to help American companies win contracts in West African countries. In return, payments or other financial benefits were given to Jefferson family members' companies.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, FBI, William Jefferson

AIPAC

Hastert: Source Said Negroponte Blocked Me From Getting Briefed On Harman Wiretap

Zachary Roth | April 27, 2009, 12:29PM

The Jane-Harman/AIPAC story is only getting more interesting.

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has gone on the record with information that suggests a broader effort than we'd yet been aware of by the Bush administration to keep secret the fact that it had wiretapped a member of Congress.

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Topics: AIPAC, Alberto Gonzales, CIA, Dennis Hastert, Jane Harman, John Negroponte, Justice Department, Michael Hayden, Nancy Pelosi, Wiretapping

Alan Mollohan

Lawmakers Give Back to the Legal Community

Will Thomas | October 16, 2007, 1:43PM

Recently, House lawmakers filed their third quarter campaign disclosure reports -- and you know what that means! It's time for another round-up of how much lawmakers have dropped on lawyers to defend themselves from investigation.

Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), with nearly $1 million in total fees dating back to last year, remains the undisputed House champion, but Rep. Don Young (R-AK) is charging hard.

Here's our list of legal spending habits for the past three months, as well as an estimate of how much each lawmaker has spent in campaign funds to date and to which firms:

Rep. Don Young (R-AK): $183,785
So far, Young has spent $447,000 on the law firms Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Tobin O'Connor Ewing & Richard (the vast majority of which is spent on Akin Gump). He's under investigation for his relationship with Bill Allen, former CEO of oil-services firm.

Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ): $111,042
Renzi has paid around $148,000 to law firms Patton Boggs LLP and Steptoe & Johnson LLP (primarily on Patton Boggs). Renzi remains under investigation by the FBI for pushing legislation that would advantage political supporters and former business partners. His house was raided by the FBI this past April. Renzi has announced that he will not seek another term.

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV): $55,000
Mollohan has spent $78,000 on the law firm Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel. He has been under federal scrutiny since last May for earmarking funds for organizations connected to him.

Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA): $26,982
Lewis has spent over $987,000 on the law firms Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Williams & Jensen. He is being investigated for earmarks that he provided to campaign contributors, as well as his role in the Duke Cunningham scandal.

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Topics: Alan Mollohan, Dennis Hastert, Don Young, John Doolittle, Mark Foley, Rick Renzi

Dennis Hastert

Denny's Goin' Home

Paul Kiel | August 14, 2007, 4:19PM

CQ reports that former-Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) is serving his last term in Congress:

After less than a year as a rank-and-file House member, former Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is expected to call an end to a political career that made him the longest serving Republican Speaker in the history of the House of Representatives.
Several Illinois newspapers, including the Aurora Beacon News and the Chicago Tribune, reported Tuesday that the Illinois Republican has scheduled a Friday announcement on the steps of the Kendall County Courthouse in Yorkville, Ill. While Hastert aides are refusing to discuss what he plans to say, he is expected to announce that he will not run for a 12th term in 2008, according to Republican sources.

There will be some who'll remember Hastert mainly as ex-Majority Leader Tom DeLay's (R-TX) plaything.

But we here at TPMmuckraker prefer to remember him for his even lower moments, such as convening Republican leaders after the Mark Foley scandal broke to get their stories straight for the press. Unfortunately for Hastert, not even that ten-thumbed effort managed to keep the inconsistencies from piling up. Even the toothless ethics committee report on the scandal found that Hastert and others had "willfully" ignored Foley's interest in House pages.

Thanks for the memories!

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Topics: Dennis Hastert

Mark Foley

It's Official: Foley Report Sucked

Justin Rood | December 11, 2006, 11:02AM

The reviews are in on the House ethics committee report on the Foley scandal, and they aren't good.

"[A] 91-page exercise in cowardice," a New York Times editorial thundered."The report’s authors were clearly more concerned about protecting the members of the House than the young men and women under their charge in the page program."

"What, one has to wonder, would it take for the House ethics committee to hold a lawmaker or a staff member accountable?" asked the Washington Post in its editorial, "The Buck Just Stopped." (The Wall Street Journal, however, pronounced the report "fair and sensible.")

Even some GOPers are whispering that those who dodged a bullet only did so because the committee purposely fired above their heads. Roll Call's John Bresnahan quoted one unnamed "Republican insider" with ties to Hastert who called the report a "shrewd political document" that carefully criticized only members and staff who were leaving power.

"They kicked people who don't care anymore," the source told Bresnahan. "Hastert doesn't care, and the other guys don't care either. . . . This doesn't hurt them at all."

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Mark Foley

Report: Clerk Spoke of Hastert Aide's "Over-involvement" with Pages

Paul Kiel | December 8, 2006, 4:47PM

It sounds from the report that Ted Van Der Meid, Speaker Dennis Hastert's counsel, had his own problems with being too close with the House pages. From pages 39-40:

According to [House Clerk Jeff Trandahl], he raised his concerns about Rep. Foley to Van Der Meid "pretty often" in the context of raising similar concerns he had relative to Van Der Meid's over-involvement with pages assigned to the Speaker's office. Trandahl testified, "So here is my point of contact in the Speaker (sic), and I'm trying to have the conversation about him specifically, but also in a general sense." According to Trandahl, while Van Der Meid understood his concerns "politically," Van Der Meid's "pushback" was that "there is nothing wrong with people being mentors and caring about the kids." Trandahl responded that the page program had paid professionals to serve those functions. Trandahl felt that "there needed to be a very clear line between the page program and people who worked up here [in leadership]."
Van Der Meid did not report Trandahl's concerns about Rep. Foley's conduct to anyone else in the Speaker's Office... He explained that he did not elevate the Foley matter because he "got the impression that [Trandahl] was dealing with it."... He further testified that "[Trandahl] had never asked me to take any other action," and in any event, "I don't know what I would have done."

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Mark Foley

Report Drubs Hastert, Shimkus, Reynolds

Justin Rood | December 8, 2006, 3:52PM

Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe (R) isn't the only guy to take a beating in the House Ethics Committee report on the Foley scandal.

The panel finds that Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) all but abandoned his responsibilities as chairman of the House Page Board. "Rep. Shimkus should have demanded copies of all relevant e-mails or other documents," the report states. "[A]t a minimum Rep. Shimkus had an obligation to learn more facts regarding the e-mails [between Foley and a page] before concluding that he could handle the matter himself without informing the other members of the Page Board or seeking their input."

They also pull up just short of accusing House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) of conspiring to obstruct justice, when he tried to rope other GOPers with conflicting stories into meeting with him to "prepare a statement." To the panel, that smacked of an attempt to coordinate a plausible lie:

[T]he efforts by the Speaker's office to prepare a statement under the direction of counsel could have had the additional effect of inhibiting the Investigative Subcommittee's ability to secure evidence. . . This effect was compounded by the appearance of [lawyer Randy] Evans and a law partner as counsel for the Speaker, Stokke and Kennedy during their testimony before the Subcommittee.

Some may recall that Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY) refused to attend the meeting. But that doesn't keep him clear of suspicion. He only did that on advice of his counsel -- the aforementioned Randy Evans, who had the thankless (though likely profitable) job of keeping all the men out of trouble.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Mark Foley

Vanity Fair Slips Boxers off Foley Scandal

Paul Kiel | December 4, 2006, 3:43PM

Finally, Vanity Fair has delivered their take-out on the Mark Foley scandal (or Pagegate, if you prefer). And it's chock full of satisfyingly sordid details.

One figure in particular gets a drubbing: the out-going House Speaker, Dennis Hastert.

Here's Hastert, standing dumbly by when Kirk Fordham, Foley's former chief of staff and then Rep. Tom Reynolds' (R-NY) chief of staff, brings word of the coming calamity -- that ABC News has copies of sexually explicit instant messages sent by Foley to underage pages:

Fordham thought he made it clear that his old boss needed to quit, but Foley couldn't bring himself to do that. The N.R.C.C. headquarters was around the corner, and Fordham made it his next stop. There he found Representative Reynolds and Speaker Hastert. But before he could finish relaying the awful news, Reynolds's face got purple and he began to shout, "He needs to resign, and he needs to do it right now!" The Speaker just sat there, silent, according to Fordham: "He didn't react at all. This was weeks before the election, and they're thinking how this is going to impact us."

And here's Hastert trying to attempt damage control:

Hastert, believing the leadership needed to present a united front, as one by one his colleagues were repudiating his foggy recollections, called a Republican-leadership meeting. That same day, an ethics-committee investigation was pressed for by Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (over the objections of those who wanted an independent counsel), its purpose to discover who knew what when about Foley. Blunt, Boehner, and Reynolds were all summoned "to basically get their stories straight for the press," according to a knowledgeable source, who adds, "That to me is where Hastert attempted a cover-up."
Reynolds balked at having such a meeting. "This is stupid! We can't all go and meet privately and try to get our stories straight, because this matter was just referred to the ethics committee," he told Hastert, according to the same source. "In fact, none of us are supposed to be talking to each other, because we are not supposed to talk to potential witnesses." Worse, added Reynolds, "I can tell you anything we say at this leadership meeting is something we have to share with the ethics committee."

The meeting eventually became a conference call, but without Reynolds's participation.

Read the whole thing here.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

BREAKING: Hastert Office Blocked Corruption Probe

Justin Rood | October 27, 2006, 7:37PM

Congressional Quarterly reporting:

Two former House committee investigators who were examining Capitol Hill security upgrades said a senior aide to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert hindered their efforts before they were abruptly ordered to stop their probe last year.
The former Appropriations Committee investigators said Ted Van Der Meid, Hastert’s chief counsel, resisted from the start the inquiry, which began with concerns about mismanagement of a secret security office and later probed allegations of bid-rigging and kickbacks from contractors to a Defense Department employee.

Ronald Garant and a second Appropriations Committee investigator who asked not to be identified said Van Der Meid engaged in “screaming matches” with investigators and told at least one aide not to talk to them. Van Der Meid also prohibited investigators from visiting certain sites to check up on the effectiveness of the work, the investigators said.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert

Dennis Hastert

House Foley Probe Conducting Last Interviews?

Paul Kiel | October 25, 2006, 10:49PM

From the AP:

An aide to House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Wednesday went before ethics investigators in private to explain how the office handled complaints about former Rep. Mark Foley's behavior toward former pages.
Ted Van Der Meid, who oversaw the page program for Hastert, R-Ill., appears to be one of the last witnesses. The House ethics panel is investigating whether lawmakers and staff aides acted properly when learning of Foley's too-friendly messages to ex-pages and other possible inappropriate behavior.

The panel is in its third week of hearing testimony and seems unlikely to complete its probe before the Nov. 7 elections.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

Hastert Testifies in House Foley Probe

Justin Rood | October 24, 2006, 3:37PM

Armed with his personal lawyer, House Speaker Dennis Hastert began his private testimony today before the House panel investigating the Foley affair, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

"Shortly before the speaker appeared, his security detail arrived and went inside the ethics committee room, where testimony is taken in secret sessions. Hastert then arrived with his attorney, J. Randolph Evans of Atlanta," the paper says.

Also testifying today was Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which works to get Republicans elected to Congress. The two men disagree on who knew what, when about Foley's misbehavior with teenaged pages.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Mark Foley

Foley Probe Hears from GOP Aides

Justin Rood | October 23, 2006, 3:50PM

After a quiet Friday and a relaxing weekend, the House panel investigating the Foley scandal is back in business.

The special four-member subcommittee heard from Hastert confidante, housemate and chief of staff Scott Palmer, as well as Sally Vastola, the executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). The group, which works to elect Republicans to House seats, is chaired by Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY), who's under fire for knowing about Mark Foley's inappropriate communications with pages. Vastola is also a senior aide on Reynolds' congressional staff.

Reynolds himself is expected to testify tomorrow. Later this week, the panel is expected to hear from Hastert's counsel Ted Van Der Meid, and his deputy chief of staff, Mike Stokke. Top Hastert aides have retained defense lawyers, ABC News reports. Van Der Meid has chosen K. Lee Blalack, who also represents former GOP Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, now in prison for accepting bribes.

Hastert may testify this week, although CQ reports (sub. req.) that members of his staff say he has not been contacted by the panel. Another possible witness may also be interviewed by the panel, CQ says: Tim Kennedy, a staff assistant in Hastert's office who heard of Foley's icky emails back in 2005.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Mark Foley

ABC: Clerk Fingers Hastert Staffer

Paul Kiel | October 19, 2006, 3:16PM

ABC News has a taste of Trandahl's testimony:

The former clerk of the House of Representatives, Jeff Trandahl, who testified for more than four hours before the House Ethics Committee today, is believed to have testified that a top aide to House Speaker Dennis Hastert was informed of "all issues dealing with the page program," according to a Republican familiar with the investigation.
The Republican source said Trandahl planned to name Ted Van Der Meid, the speaker's counsel and floor manager, as the person who was briefed on a regular basis about any issue that arose in the page program, including a "problem group of members and staff who spent too much time socializing with pages outside of official duties." One of whom was Mark Foley.

Van Der Meid, you might remember, was one of the Hastert staffers who was involved in the fall, 2005 response to the "overly friendly" emails that Foley had sent to a staffer. Hastert had described Van Der Meid as "the Speaker's Office liaison with the Clerk's Office."

That brings to two the number of staffers in Hastert's office who allegedly knew about Foley's pursuit of House pages before last fall. According to Kirk Fordham, Foley's former chief of staff, Trandahl also alerted Hastert's chief of staff Scott Palmer about Foley's behavior.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

K.A. Paul Speaks! Again! Some More!

Paul Kiel | October 17, 2006, 5:15PM

Dr. K.A. Paul, the evangelist who says he convinced House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to resign over Foleygate, is upset that Hastert's promise didn't stick. So he's calling a news conference:

Leading Evangelist Who Met with Hastert to Hold Major News Conference to Offer Details

Religious Leader Upset Speaker Hastert Broke 7 Day Commitment

News Advisory:

Dr. K. A. Paul, the evangelist who met and prayed with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) at his home in Plano, Ill., will hold a news conference on Wednesday to outline what Speaker Hastert said to him about a 7-day commitment he made during the meeting.

The Sun-Times called the meeting a "serious security breach," but a spokeswoman for the Capitol Police, which is responsible for Speaker Hastert's security, said "this wasn't a security breach," according to the Capital Hill newspaper, Roll Call.

With the midterm elections next month, Paul has launched a crusade to save America from the wrath of God and Republicans abusing their power and mired in scandal. Paul has been supported and endorsed by major Republican and evangelical leaders across the country. He prayed with President Bush and mobilized thousands of voters in Florida to help him win the 2000 presidential election and has counseled more than 60 heads of state around the world.

DATE: Wednesday, Oct. 18

TIME: 10 a.m.

PLACE: Hilton Towers Joliet Room, 720 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill.

PARTICIPANTS:

Dr. K. A. Paul, evangelist and president, Global Peace Initiative

Dorothy Brown, clerk, Cook County Circuit Court

Dr. Jacob Agepog, Archbishop-elect

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Topics: Dennis Hastert

Mark Foley

Ethics Inquiry into Foley Scandal Continues

Justin Rood | October 16, 2006, 4:56PM

The special subcommittee of the House ethics panel that's looking into the Foley scandal met again today, hearing testimony from two key witnesses.

Danielle Savoy, a former aide to Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA) -- who sponsored one of the pages who received inappropriate emails from Foley -- spoke with the panel this morning. Savoy was the first Alexander staffer the page told of the emails.

In the afternoon, Alexander's chief of staff, Royal Alexander (no relation), took the witness chair.

Also slated for appearance before the panel today: Rep. Dale E. Kildee (D-MI), a member of the page board who says he was never told of Foley's behavior.

Tomorrow, the panel is expected to hear from House Sergeant at Arms Wilson Livingood, according to CQ (sub. req.). House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), is is scheduled to appear Thursday.

New questions are being raised over the credibility of the panel's probe, however. Existing political ties -- including donations from House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), whose behavior is under investigation, to panel members -- have already cast doubt on the panel's trustworthiness.

Congressional Quarterly's Alan Ota takes a look at some of the ambitions held by GOP members of the panel -- ambitions that only Dennis Hastert has the power to fulfill:

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, John Boehner, Mark Foley

Mark Foley

For Hastert and Reynolds, Twelve Excuses and Counting

Paul Kiel | October 16, 2006, 1:24PM

Shortly after the Mark Foley scandal blew up, Speaker Dennis Hastert boasted to Rush Limbaugh that there was no knocking him off stride -- he was planning to campaign in thirty different districts in the month preceding the election.

It's not happening.

The cancellations are frequent but quiet, so it's been nearly impossible to keep track of them all. The Washington Post last week put at 12 the growing tally of scrubbed events that were to feature Hastert or another scandal-tarnished figure, NRCC chair Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY).

By far the most popular explanation has been "scheduling conflicts." Here's a sampling of excuses:

Rep. Don Sherwood (R-PA): a spokesman for explained that a Hastert fundraiser was "cancelled mostly because Sherwood had another major event the next day." A Reynolds spokesman said that he'd dropped out of a Sherwood event because of "events in his own district." But then The Washington Post went and ruined all that hard work by straigtforwardly reporting that Sherwood had "told both men not to come to his district, forgoing crucial campaign dollars to minimize additional negative news coverage."

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

Whatever Happened to: Hastert's Page Probe?

Justin Rood | October 12, 2006, 5:40PM

Unveiling his "buck stops here" rhetoric last week, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) announced he was going to order up an independent panel to "advise us on the page program," in response to the Foley scandal. Remember?

The morning of the press conference, Ex-FBI chief Louis Freeh had been the rumored head of the panel, and the effort was thought to be an investigation -- but by the time Hastert appeared before reporters, he said only that he was "looking for a person of high caliber" to "advise" on the program.

So whatever happened to that?

In a word, nothing.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

Foleygate: Speaker Said, They Said

Paul Kiel | October 12, 2006, 3:50PM

At least three people will tell the House ethics committee that Speaker Hastert knew about Mark Foley's problem with House pages before it became public ten days ago. That testimony contradicts Hastert's public stance so far: that he learned about it from ABC News.

First, Kirk Fordham, Foley's former chief of staff, is expected to tell the House ethics committee today that Hastert's chief of staff Scott Palmer told him he'd spoken to Hastert personally about Foley's problem as early as 2002.

Neither Fordham nor his lawyer have confirmed this crucial detail on the record. But an anonymous source -- who seems to be intimately acquainted with Fordham's side of the story -- told both The Washington Post and Newsweek that this what Fordham remembers -- and that's what he'll tell the ethics committee. (Palmer has vaguely rebuffed Fordham's account of Palmer's 2002 or 2003 intervention with Foley, and one imagines that he will dispute this part of it too.)

Second, Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY) says that he talked to Hastert about Foley earlier this spring. "I took it to my supervisor," Reynolds says.

Third is House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) who also remembers talking to Hastert about the matter in the spring.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

MSNBC Gives Hastert Evangelist Much-Needed Airtime

Justin Rood | October 12, 2006, 1:59PM

ThinkProgress has a great clip of K.A. Paul, the evangelist who says he convinced House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to resign, doing his thing on MSNBC.

"Look at -- Chicago Sun Times says, 'Hastert Security Breach.' That is ridiculous. If Hastert and President Bush cannot protect their own homes, how could they protect American people?" Paul summed up for the puzzled MSNBC host. "You know a lot of lies are going on, and - Dennis Hastert never said, all he said is, it's a privileged discussion."

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Topics: Dennis Hastert

Dennis Hastert

Update: Hastert-"Duping" Evangelist Lists GOP Bona Fides

Justin Rood | October 12, 2006, 8:44AM

My phone rang yesterday evening, and it was everybody's favorite spiritual adviser to the scum of the earth, Mr. K.A. Paul!

"My people told me that I shouldn't talk to you. I was told after they did research on you you're a small reporter and you did negative things," said Paul, who claims to have spent hours talking with some of the greatest despots of the last two decades. "I said, 'I don't care, I'm going to call him.'"

"I made a commitment to you," said Paul, recalling our earlier conversation. "You want to write bad about me, go ahead. But there is a Judgment Day," he observed, with a note of warning in his voice. "I have to keep my word."

In our conversation, Paul explained that House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) isn't the first Republican to give him a nice chunk of face-time. He said that when they were in power, he had "extensive," "3-hour" sit-downs with GOP heavyweights Tom DeLay, Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich. He also had a two-and-a-half hour meeting with Bob and Elizabeth Dole, he said. Others:

George W. Bush: "I met him on several occasions," Paul told me, including in Des Moines, Iowa, and at Bush's church in Austin, Tex. "I prayed with him," he said. "I appreciated it when in 2000 president Bush got on his knees and prayed with me," recalled Paul. "What I don't appreciate is his 2004 speech, 'I have political capital, and I'm going to spend it.'. . . . If you are humble, sincere and honest, God will bless you," Paul cautioned. "If not, it doesn't matter who you are, you will be defeated."

Condolleezza Rice: Rice "called me on July 24, 2003. . . I asked, 'President Bush, why is he not calling me?' They said, 'No, he's in the room.'" (More details about the conversation, he said, were available in his new book.)

Bill O'Reilly: "I've been on his show a dozen times since 1999," said Paul, who called O'Reilly "my good friend." "[He] says he's fair and balanced, but he's not!"

As for Dennis Hastert, he said he met him first "in a casual way" when he was speaking at "a prayer breakfast dinner" in Washington, D.C. in 1997. He also met him at a Promise Keepers rally in 1997 in Washington, D.C.

Paul said that in the past day he'd received calls from Larry King Live, the CBS Morning News and dozens of other outlets. "I need to spend more time with the media!" he exclaimed, as if chastising himself for forgetting to do so. He didn't mention that shortly after his Tuesday meeting with Hastert, his assistant had sent a barrage of emails to media outlets featuring the original AP story of Paul's visit to Hastert, along with Paul's cell phone number.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert

Dennis Hastert

K.A. Paul: Hastert "Dupe" Claim "Ridiculous"

Justin Rood | October 11, 2006, 2:02PM

I spoke -- briefly -- with a man who says he is the Rev. K.A. Paul, "spiritual adviser to the scum of the Earth," who had a remarkable 40-minute prayer-and-discussion meeting yesterday with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL).

I reached the man by calling a cellular telephone number provided by an anonymous tipster.

"He never said that," Paul told me when I asked his reaction to the claim, apparently from Hastert's office, that the embattled GOP leader had been "duped" into meeting with Paul.

I pointed out that it had been reported this morning in the Chicago Sun-Times. "I don't dupe anybody," he said. "That's ridiculous." Hastert was "gracious," Paul said. "He welcomed me, he hosted me."

"That's why I think a lot of people don't talk to the media," he opined.

Paul said he'd met Hastert before, but not "in an extended way," like the meeting yesterday. But he's met with former House majority leader Tom DeLay "many times," including dinner with The Hammer at his Texas home in early 2001, Paul told me.

Paul, whose ministry includes counseling world leaders in trouble -- particularly despots, murderers and troublemakers -- begged off the phone, but promised to call back later for a longer chat.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert

Dennis Hastert

BREAKING: K.A. PAUL SPEAKS

Justin Rood | October 11, 2006, 1:25PM

Investigative mag Mother Jones scores a lengthy chat with questionable evangelist and Dennis Hastert confidante K.A. Paul, winning new details of his meeting yesterday with the embattled speaker of the House.

It turns out Paul's meeting was for 7 a.m., but he showed up a half-hour late, says MoJo:

The two men withdrew into a private room where, Paul says, he launched into a sermon about what Hastert should do. Paul told Mother Jones that he cited politicians whose reputations suffered when they resisted stepping down: Donald Rumsfeld, Tom DeLay, Bill Clinton. “I said ‘If you don’t do that, the Republicans will lose control of the Congress, you will no longer be Speaker in 30 days, and at the same time they will all blame you because of Foley scandal. You want that for you? You want that to be your life legacy after accomplish so many good things?’ So that’s what convinced him.”

“God gave me this position that I don’t deserve,” Paul says Hastert told him. “For the good of the people, I will do it.”

The Chicago Sun-Times today reported Hastert was "duped" into meeting with Paul. Hastert's office maintains he is not stepping down.

Bonus: Paul tells MoJo he knew al-Qaeda’s Abu Musab al-Zarqawi “when he was nobody.” Dubbed the "spiritual adviser to the scum of the Earth," Paul says he has counseled such men as Saddam Hussein, Muammar al-Khaddafi, Slobodan Milosevic, Liberia's Charles Taylor, and former House majority leader Tom DeLay.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert

Dennis Hastert

Update: More Calling on Hastert to Step Down

Justin Rood | October 11, 2006, 1:08PM

Rep. Stephanie Herseth (D-SD) recently became the latest figure to call on House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to step down over his mishandling of the Foley page scandal. That gave us a reason to update our list of folks demanding Hastert's ouster.

The list has grown, thanks to Herseth, editorials in the Los Angeles Times and the New Hampshire Union Leader, and a host of others. Check it out. If we missed a call, let us know!

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Topics: Dennis Hastert

Dennis Hastert

Hastert "Duped" By PR-Hungry Evangelist

Justin Rood | October 11, 2006, 11:23AM

House Speaker Dennis Hastert was "duped" into meeting with an eccentric globetrotting evangelist and his associate, according to today's Chicago Sun-Times.

According to the paper's account, a "massive coincidence" is how the evangelist, K.A. Paul, finagled a meeting with Hastert, who's currently facing one of the biggest crises of his career, that also threatens the power of the GOP.

An associate of Paul's says he just happened to be driving through Plano, Ill., on Monday night, near Hastert's home. At a restaurant there he encountered Hastert and his security contingent. The associate, Dennis Ryan, approached Hastert and called Rev. Paul.

"Hastert talked to Paul and apparently decided to make the Tuesday date with him without consulting his advisors," the paper concludes.

The next morning at 7:30, Paul arrived at Hastert's house with an AP reporter in tow and associate Ryan, who had by now armed himself with a camera.

The paper says Hastert and Paul met for 40 minutes -- not the half hour reported yesterday -- and they prayed together. Paul also "laid hands" on Hastert, and called on him to resign, the Sun-Times reported.

The paper does not explain why Hastert chose to meet with Paul, how the "reverend" evaded traditional security checks, or why Hastert isn't going on record about any of this.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

Hastert Confidante "Spiritual Adviser to Scum of the Earth"

Justin Rood | October 10, 2006, 7:32PM

From a 2004 article (sub. req.) in The New Republic on Dr. K.A. Paul, House Speaker Dennis Hastert's (R-IL) go-to guy for last minute soul-searching:

Over the past two decades, Kilari Anand Paul, a self-described "Hindu-born follower of Jesus," has cultivated a peculiar specialty as spiritual adviser to the scum of the earth. Liberia's Charles Taylor, Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic, and Iraq's Saddam Hussein are among the more infamous butchers to talk with Paul about the moral implications of running a brutal, repressive, and occasionally genocidal regime. In fact, Dr. Paul, as everyone calls him (thanks to an honorary degree from Living Word Bible College in Swan River, Manitoba), has counseled scores of corrupt political leaders at all levels of government, as well as warlords, rebels, and terrorists from Mumbai to Manila to Mogadishu. By Paul's estimate, he has gone mano a mano with the leaders of every significant terrorist and rebel group in the 89 countries where his ministry operates.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert

Dennis Hastert

In Hour of Need, Hastert Turns to -- Nut-Job Evangelist?

Justin Rood | October 10, 2006, 5:00PM

You're House Speaker Dennis Hastert. You're up to your wattle in the recriminations and repercussions of the Foley page scandal. You probably lost whatever chance you had of keeping your party in the majority. You're trying to save your own skin, much less the skins of your loyal staff, while multiple investigations are digging into your side about who knew what, when, and what they did or didn't do about it.

So you decide to take a meeting with a globe-hopping, PR-happy evangelist who (if accounts can be believed) faked his own leper colony?

After the 30-minute meeting between Hastert and Indian-by-way-of-Houston Christian evangelist K.A. Paul today, Hastert had no comment for the press. Paul, however, was downright chatty.

"I am humbled with his humility and simplicity," Paul told the Associated Press. (In the past, Paul has relied on the work of public relations firm Rubenstein Associates, who has also handled Rupert Murdoch and David Letterman. The firm says it no longer represents him.)

Paul was trying to get Hastert to step down, he told AP. "We don't want the Foley scandal when we have 100 more important things to do."

Perhaps that's true. But why did Hastert give a guy like Paul half an hour of face time to hear what plenty of other people have been more than happy to tell him?

According to a June 2006 article from the Houston Press, Paul has plenty of history to be wary of, including:

- claiming another minister's leper colony as his own, and videotaping said lepers for a promotional video
- transporting children in an airplane one former crew member called a "flying death trap"

- leaving a trail of unpaid bills for the plane's fuel and maintenance

- interfering with a murder investigation in India, earning the wrath of that country's National Council of Churches

- fleeing to the United States from India after nine of his American volunteers were arrested and thrown in prison

- abandoning an 11-year-old girl after checking her into a hospital

But he also appears to have strange connections -- and a good deal of money. Anybody know more about the guy, or why Hastert might agree to meet with him?

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

Hastert: Staff Did Nothing Wrong

Paul Kiel | October 10, 2006, 11:33AM

At a press conference this morning, Hastert began to qualify his defense of how his office handled Mark Foley's indiscretions, as new details have emerged that cast his earlier versions of events in doubt.

"I don’t think anybody in my office at any time did anything wrong," Hastert said -- hardly a ringing endorsement. However, “if anybody is found to have hidden information or covered up information, they really should be gone,” he told reporters. Hastert did not indicate he was undertaking any particular effort on his part to find out who on his staff misled him.

As we noted yesterday, Hastert's chief of staff knew about Foley's problem back in 2003, according to two congressional staffers -- one of them Foley's former chief of staff.

Asked about Rep. Jim Kolbe's (R-AZ) recent revelation that he'd confronted Foley over suggestive messages sent to a former page, Hastert implied -- but did not explicitly state -- that Kolbe had never brought the problem to the Speaker's office. "If it was something that was of a nature that should have been reported or brought forward, then he should have done that," he said.

Update: Here's the AP's write-up.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Mark Foley

The Dog Ate My Campaign Appearance

Paul Kiel | October 10, 2006, 9:20AM

The Foley scandal has caused a rash of scheduling conflicts, it appears. The two figures most tainted by the scandal, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and NRCC Chairman Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY), had been scheduled to come campaign for Rep. Don Sherwood (R-PA), who's been having a tough campaign this year, in part because he allegedly tried to strangle his ex-mistress (he's admitted the affair, denied the strangling).

Things just didn't work out. But it has nothing to do with Foley. Not for Hastert:

Jake O'Donnell, a spokesman for Sherwood, said Monday that an Oct. 18 event with Hastert was only tentatively scheduled and was canceled mostly because Sherwood had another major event the next day.

And not for Reynolds:

"When asked why the Reynolds appearance was canceled, [O'Donnell] said, 'It is mostly about the travel schedule, but there is that other issue.'

Wait. "That other issue?" Now I'm confused. Reynolds' spokesman clears things up:

NRCC spokesman Ed Patru said Reynolds had events in his own district that led him to drop out of the Sherwood fundraiser.
"Mr. O'Donnell is not in a position to know why the event was canceled," Patru said. "He was clearly out of the loop on this one."

So there. Nothing to do with Foley.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Mark Foley

GOPer: Hastert Issue "Moot"

Paul Kiel | October 9, 2006, 10:58AM

Should Denny Hastert resign or not? Here's one conservative's view on the matter, courtesy of Robert Novak's column today:

"It's really moot," one of Hastert's most severe Republican critics (who would not be identified) told me. "We are sure to lose the House, and Denny never would want to be minority leader." With Hastert's last performance as speaker coming in a predictably do-nothing lame-duck session after the Nov. 7 election, the month of October will be challenging for him and his party as he decides what to do with plans to campaign for challenged House candidates.

Via The Stakeholder.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Mark Foley

Foley Scandal: Another Former Page Comes Forward -- From Iraq

Justin Rood | October 8, 2006, 11:35AM

From Louisville, Ky.'s WHAS-11 News. The story's dated last Thursday, but I don't think we've mentioned this one yet:

According to Congressman Ron Lewis, the former page is now a soldier in Iraq. But five years ago, he was a teenage page in the U.S. House who was the subject of some kind of questionable contact from Congressman Mark Foley.
Lewis’s chief of staff got a satellite phone call from Iraq Tuesday afternoon from a man who wouldn't identify himself. But he did say he was a soldier from Kentucky’s Second Congressional District who wanted to give Lewis a heads up.

“To let us know that he had been approached by Mark Foley in 2001 and that he is speaking to the proper authorities, to a JAG officer who will then pass that on to the FBI,” says Lewis.

Congressman Lewis’s office is the only local one we've found that's gotten a call from any of their former pages, alleging misconduct by Foley, a man Lewis describes this way: “He was a creepy guy.”

According to the story, Lewis' office got the call from the former page on Oct. 2. The next day, the congressman cancelled his Oct. 10 fundraiser with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL).

Follow-ups to this story have noted that the FBI has since spoken with the ex-page who contacted Lewis.

Lewis hasn't yet called for Hastert's ouster, but WHAS says he's pointedly not ruling out the possibility he might do so in the future.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Mark Foley

Foley Scandal: Page's Lawyer Softens Stance; More Trouble for Hastert

Justin Rood | October 7, 2006, 8:54AM

Two developments in this morning's news: First, the lawyer for an ex-page who IMed with Mark Foley now says he can't rule out the possibility that his client's lewd chats were a prank, as had been reported previously, but it "sounds" like "a piece of fiction."

Earlier Stephen Jones, lawyer for former House page Jordan Edmund, stated decisively that the "prank" report was untrue.

Second, a current GOP staffer has told the Washington Post that Hastert's chief of staff told Foley to knock off his page hijinks long before the House speaker says his aides knew about the problem. Over at TPM, Josh has the full breakdown on what this means -- in short, it's not too good for Hastert.

Of course, the chair of the panel investigating the matter says "I think the Speaker has done an excellent job," so who are we to disagree?

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

Mailbag: Hey Hastert -- How About a Thank-You?

Justin Rood | October 6, 2006, 11:49AM

So House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) had his big day in the sun yesterday, where he kind of apologized, kind of announced an independent probe of the page program, kind of blamed the Democrats for everything, and kind of admitted that the GOP leadership could have handled the whole mess a little better.

What he pointedly didn't do was thank ABC for bringing the sordid scandal to light, as Reader JL noted:

It seems to me that if Denny Hastert were sincere, he would thank ABC News for uncovering Rep. Foley's conduct with pages. The FBI had already passed on a chance to investigate this, which means that Foley would still be IMing pages.

To jaded politicos, this likely sounds like a naive observation. But it's sincere, and direct. For the pages, Congress is in loco parentis, as Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) pointed out at the House Ethics Committee press conference yesterday.

If Hastert is supposed to consider the kids like they were his own, and his own staff and colleagues hid from him that they were being recruited as vulnerable partners for sexual hijinks, shouldn't he be a little more appreciative ABC brought it to his attention?

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

GOPers to Hastert: Cut the Conspiracy Chatter

Paul Kiel | October 6, 2006, 11:42AM

On Wednesday night, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) spun tales of Democratic cabals and hidden agendas for the benefit of hungry reporters. Hastert told The Chicago Tribune that Clinton operatives knew about the allegations and were maybe behind the story's release. "I saw Bill Clinton's adviser, Richard Morris, was saying these guys knew about this all along," he said. "When the base finds out who's feeding this monster, they're not going to be happy.... The people who want to see this thing blow up are ABC News and a lot of Democratic operatives, people funded by George Soros."

But yesterday, when a reporter prodded Hastert to repeat the performance at his press conference, he said, "I only know what I've seen in the press and what I've heard. There's no ultimate, real source of information, but that's what I've read. And that's what I've heard in the press." Later, he said he believed that Democrats "don't have a story to tell. And maybe they're resolving to another way to -- to -- another political tactic."

What gives? Whither his grand conspiratorial suspicions? This morning's Tribune has the answer:

Comments that Hastert made in a Tribune interview suggesting the scandal had been orchestrated by ABC News, Democratic political operatives aligned with the Clinton White House and liberal activist George Soros were considered a serious misstep in national Republican circles, an official said. Senior Republican officials contacted Hastert's office before his news conference Thursday to urge that he not repeat the charges, and he backed away from them in his news conference.
"The Chicago Tribune interview last night--the George Soros defense--was viewed as incredibly inept," a national Republican official said. "It could have been written by [comedian] Jon Stewart."

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Mark Foley

Hastert Campaign Calls Constituents about Foleygate

Paul Kiel | October 5, 2006, 6:14PM

Is Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) worried about damage in his home district from the page scandal?

Here's one indication that he is. Yesterday, his campaign paid for automated calls in his district in support of the Speaker. The calls were a counter-offensive against a left-leaning group that's been hitting Republicans nationwide on the Foley scandal. You can listen to a recording of the Hastert call here.

Earlier this week, American Family Voices blanketed some 50 districts with calls urging citizens "to call their congressman and 'demand he stop the coverup' of the Mark Foley scandal," according to The Palm Beach Post. One of those districts was Hastert's.

Hastert's call, recorded on an answering machine by a TPM reader, characterizes American Family Voices as "a liberal extremist group" deploying "untrue partisan attacks." The call also points out that the group is headed by John Lux, a former Clinton administration aide -- a fact that some conservatives have used to suggest that the Clintons are actually behind Foleygate. The full script of the call, as best as I could transcribe it, is below.

Hastert's opponent in the 14th District is John Laesch, a former intelligence analyst with the U.S. Navy. CQ Politics rates the race as Safe Republican -- but who knows? That may change.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Mark Foley

Hastert Contradicts Ally's Story

Justin Rood | October 5, 2006, 4:00PM

In a statement today tailored to deflect criticism of how GOP leadership handled the Foley scandal, House Speaker Dennis Hastert appeared to contradict a version of events explained by his close ally just the day before.

Hastert said that when the head of the House Page Board spoke with disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) in 2005 about the emails, he specifically asked the now-disgraced congressman if there were any others. According to Hastert, Foley told the board chair, Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), there were none.

"[Shimkus] asked him if there was any other messages," Hastert told reporters this afternoon. "[Foley] said no."

"That's what we did, and the parents were happy," Hastert said, referring to the parents of the former page who'd received Foley's emails.

That version of events is squarely at odds with what Shimkus told the Chicago Tribune yesterday:

Shimkus acknowledged he did not ask Foley whether there were any other electronic exchanges with pages, such as the sexually suggestive instant messages from 2003 that surfaced on Friday and led to Foley's swift resignation.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

Blunt Backs Off Earlier Criticism of Hastert

Paul Kiel | October 5, 2006, 3:54PM

Yesterday Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) criticized Speaker Hastert for not having done more when he found out about solicitous emails that Foley had sent a page. Today he's back-tracking, calling Hastert "an effective leader of unquestioned integrity."

Full statement below the jump...

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

For GOP, Price of Loyalty to Hastert May Be Steep

Justin Rood | October 5, 2006, 3:42PM

FOX News reports that Hastert's refusal to step down could cost GOP dozens of seats in the House this November:

House Republican candidates will suffer massive losses if House Speaker Dennis Hastert remains speaker until Election Day, according to internal polling data from a prominent GOP pollster, FOX News has learned.
"The data suggests Americans have bailed on the speaker," a Republican source briefed on the polling data told FOX News. "And the difference could be between a 20-seat loss and 50-seat loss."

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Topics: Dennis Hastert

Dennis Hastert

Hastert: I'm Sorry, I Didn't Get Freeh, I'm Staying, and I Blame the Dems

Justin Rood | October 5, 2006, 2:59PM

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) made no mention of tapping former FBI director Louis Freeh to lead an investigation into misconduct with House pages in a press conference moments ago, saying instead that he'd reached out to Pelosi to "share some ideas."

The move had been reported earlier by Roll Call. Shortly before Hastert's press conference, MSNBC reported that when the Speaker told the idea to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), "Pelosi said that's not good enough. We don't want an overhaul of the page program; we need a more thorough investigation."

In his statement, Hastert said he was "looking for a person of high caliber" to lead a probe into the matter. "I have reached out to the Democratic Leader," Hastert said, "and we hope to resolve this soon."

"I'm deeply sorry this has happened," Hastert told reporters assembled outside his Illinois district office, apparently referring to the Foley scandal. "Our system obviously isn't designed for this electronic age of instant messages."

He insisted he and other GOP leaders "dealt with it immediately." He reiterated his claim that he first learned of the matter last Friday.

Still, he admitted, there was room for improvement. "Could we have handled it better? Could the page board have handled it better? In retrospect probably, yes."

In response to a reporter's query, Hastert said he wasn't stepping down. "I'm going to run and presumably win in this election, and when I do, I expect to run" for the House Speaker's seat.

The House Speaker used his responses to reporters' questions to reiterate GOP successes at the end of this congressional session; take a shot at former GOP aide Kirk Fordham, who says he told Hastert's staff in 2003 about Foley's problems; and insinuate that the Democrats had created the scandal because they didn't have a message to win the elections.

We'll be posting video of the news conference soon.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

Analysis: For Hastert and GOP, Next 24 Hours Are Crucial

Justin Rood | October 5, 2006, 1:52PM

We're still waiting for the official announcements, but it sounds like we already know what we're going to hear: Hastert isn't leaving, and he's adopting a "buck stops here" stance; the House ethics committee is going to appoint a special counsel to conduct a broad investigation, led by former FBI head Louis Freeh.

[Update: the committee has since announced it will investigate the program itself. Freeh will lead a separate probe, at Hastert's request. Late Update: Ha. Pelosi nixed Freeh. I'm sending my crystal ball in for repair.]

That means that Hastert and the House GOP will have taken their best shot at leading the next news cycle. They're taking charge (finally), starting a probe, and accepting a little responsibility -- at least rhetorically.

Here's the thing: Hastert and the GOP need to lead at least an entire news cycle to shift the momentum of the story. They're already walking wounded; as just one example, MSNBC is reporting Hastert has canceled all of his fundraising appearances for the next two weeks. They need a solid day of good press. I don't know if they'll get it; but this is basically their one chance.

The press is already acting a little wary. But to make things worse, we understand that there are other revelations about lawmakers' misbehavior with pages waiting to erupt. Other members, other pages, other scenarios that haven't become public. If any of that dirt breaks in the next 24 hours -- well, it would most likely blow a hole through the GOP message that they've got the situation under control, and start a whole new wave of what-did-they-know, when-did-they-know-it. And it will be even less enjoyable than the first round.

On the flip side, if Hastert and the GOP controls the cycle through tomorrow and into the weekend, they might hang on. I don't know if they could undo the damage of the last week, but it might not be the catastrophe some have predicted.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley

Dennis Hastert

If You Think Hastert Should Go, Raise Your Hand

Justin Rood | October 5, 2006, 12:55PM

Here's the list of publications and public figures who have called for Hastert to resign his leadership position over his handling of the Foley scandal. Hastert's speaking momentarily, we understand, although it sounds unlikely he will forfeit his gavel.

We aren't including those, like conservative leader Paul Weyrich, who have called for his resignation but later switched their position. No flip-floppers allowed.

If you know of others we've left off, let us know. The list so far, after the jump.

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Topics: Dennis Hastert